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Friendship Sad

OUR STREET...

15-year-old Kale had been down this road a countless number of times. Well, actually she had been through the street 257 times who's counting. Then again, why wouldn't she go through that street, it was her favorite one in town.

Ever since she moved to Texas with her father two years back, this tiny little street has been her favorite. She couldn't quite explain her reason behind it.

Maybe, it is because the houses on that street had the best architecture in town or maybe it's the peals of laughter of families she always hears whenever she passes by. It gave her a sense of togetherness, reminding her that the world is not always as evil as it seems.

But today, the street was different or maybe, it seemed different to Kale as she was not there with her today like she should have been.

Kale almost wanted to go back but her feet took her forward anyways. Although it was a sunny day in July, Kale felt a cold feeling taking over her.

"Get a hold of yourself, Kale. Carly is probably in a better place now," Kale told herself but still felt tears coming out of her eyes.

Carly Shay used to be Kale's best friend ever since she moved to Texas. Some even used to call them each other's shadow. Kale did not blame them. After all, they were quite inseparable.

They had met in a quite comical way. Carly had dropped some iced tea on Kale's shirt on the first day of school and then dragged Kale to her locker despite her protests as that was a 'fashion emergency'.

Carly gave her some extra clothes which even though were not even close to what Kale usually wears, looked fantabulous on her.  They started having a conversation and then began what they thought would be a lifetime friendship.

Soon they became best friends sharing everything with each other. The one thing they shared was having a single parent. Kale’s mom had passed away when she was only a couple of months old and Carly’s mom had left her and her father when she only a baby.

Kale found it hard to believe that how can someone be foolish enough to leave a person like Carly. She was a fashion-obsessed drama queen which was not a surprise considering the fact that her dad was a fashion designer. But apart from that, she was the most generous, considerate, and creative person she had ever met. Kale doesn’t think she could have ever even hurt a fly.

They were quite opposite in that perspective. Kale is a more daring kind of person whereas Carly was as delicate as a flower but maybe, that was the reason they clicked so good.

They began the tradition of walking down that street when one day they accidentally went to the wrong address to work with a classmate on a class project. They started to chat while walking through the street and liked it so much that they kept walking through the same street again and again. Sure, this caused their partner to be totally incandescent as they didn’t help her finish the project and they ended up getting detention, but it was worth it.

Kale thought of herself who looked at the glass half full instead of half empty, always looking at the brighter side of every situation. Thus, whenever she was reminded that her mom is no more in the world, she used to think that fate has taken one especially important person from her, it wouldn’t ever tear her apart from another person she loved. But fate was a funny thing she realized, it would twist and turn life like a superhero fiction movie.  

She learnt that news three weeks ago. She was sitting on her couch nonchalantly flipping through pages of a novel when her dad told her what happened.  Carly and her dad were driving home the previous night when a drunken man came in front of their car causing the car to spin and crash to a pole. Neither Carly nor her dad made it.

When Kale heard her heard the news, she felt as if the world had been taken beneath her feet. She burst into tears as her dad who himself had tears in his eyes comforted her. Kale cried herself to sleep that night.

When she woke up the next morning, she hoped it was just a nightmare, but reality had other plans like always.

She cried throughout the funeral. That was probably the first time Kale cried so much in her entire life. She couldn’t even complete her speech and her dad had to finish it for her.

Even today, when she decided to finally walk through the street in three weeks, she almost wrung the doorbell to the Shay’s house before remembering the truth.

As she was walking through the street, she spotted Mrs. Conley, an old lady that lived in the street. Mostly everyone living in the street knew her and Carly and Mrs. Conley was probably their favorite. She went over to her and sat beside her on a bench.

“Holla Kale, didn’t expect to see you here today,” said Mrs. Conley with a sad smile. She was usually an enthusiastic person but today she looked just as forlorn as Kale.

“Ya, neither did I,” replied Kale.

She was just exhausted from all those memories of her and Carly. Every single thing just reminded her more and more of her. Even the bench that she was seated on reminded her of their first fight about something that Kale couldn’t even remember anymore. She couldn’t take it and busted into a pool of tears. She was quite aware of how foolish it looked to cry like a baby in front of everyone but for once, she didn’t care.

Mrs. Conley held her in her arms, stroking her hair and muttering, “ It’s okay, let it all out.”

“This isn’t fair. She deserved so much better, and she just left. This isn’t fair Mrs. Conley,” Kale sobbed. She finally regained herself and sit back straight on the beach.

After a long silence, Miss Conley spoke, "Carly achieved a lot of great things in her life Kale. She deserved more chances but she still grabbed those that were given and more importantly she created her own path instead of waiting for one to open."

Kale nodded and said, "She surely was a creator."

"Sometimes the smallest lives burn the brightest Kale and it gives warmth to everyone near it," said Mrs. Conley with a little smile on her face.

"Well, in that case, she surely was a bonfire in my life," said Kale a little more brightly.

"I guess she would prefer the term, scented candle," said Mrs. Conley as they both started chuckling.

"Just remember, you will meet her once again Kale, and this time you won't have to be worried about ever being apart from her," Mrs. Conley said with her usual bright and wise smile.

"Well, I should get going. Goodbye Mrs. Conely," said Kale as she retreated from her seat to hug her.

Kale admitted she felt a lot better as walked down the street recalling her and Carly's memories together. Their street.

(Little did Kale knew that one day, she would be able to get the street to be named as 'The street of Carly Shay")

The end

-Original story by Navya Garg

July 09, 2021 05:18

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